DarkRevenge (35 page)

All their usual customs were gone. Even the
Saria
contracts seemed unnecessary since many families were decimated. There was no
place now for isolation or for vengeance against other bloodlines. Survival
demanded cooperation. The other island populations hadn’t been infected by the
plague, but their representatives, the heads of their families, had died in the
sweeping destruction of Saladen.

Which left her in charge.

Totally unacceptable. She was not a queen of anything. She
was a commander, a soldier, a woman who wanted to disappear with her man.

Keeping the fucking politicians at bay was a challenge.
Luckily, Darius was willing to stay and help clean up the mess. Celeste also stepped
in. Jezar stayed behind to provide much-needed intel for her.

But Tory wasn’t there and that pissed her off.

The new government had begun to function well. After
centuries of an aristocracy, a representative government seemed odd to most.
Family politics were in the past and a new era had dawned. Luckily, many of the
survivors were from other areas of the Teran system, so they were accepting of
a government elected by the people.

There weren’t many dissenters. The horror of Saladen had
changed everything.

Her planet had adjusted, survived, and she couldn’t wait to
get off the rock. She wanted to be in space, on
The Pinnacle
. Let the
rest of them build a new Teran One. She was part of the old guard. They had
begged her to stay, but she was firm. She represented the thing that began the
whole mess in the first place.

And Tory wasn’t here.

Wherever he was, it was too distant for a mental touch.
She’d tried until her fucking head hurt. When he didn’t show up the day before,
she excused it, thinking he was wrapping up business or something. But now? She
paced.

Maybe he didn’t want her anymore. Maybe it had all been too
much. If he hadn’t loved her, all this shit wouldn’t have happened. He
certainly wouldn’t have been involved in it. Her heart was breaking into a
million little pieces at the idea that he might not want her anymore.

Someone came through the front door and her head snapped up,
hopeful. Jezar. She sighed. “How was the committee meeting?” she asked.

“Long. Have you contacted
The Pinnacle?”

“I sent a message yesterday asking for an ETA.” She resumed
pacing. “Nothing.”

“Has it occurred to you he might be in trouble?”

She stopped abruptly. No, she hadn’t. Shit. Had he been
caught in some fucking trouble and she’d been sitting here thinking he didn’t
love her anymore?

Damn it. She strode into her room and grabbed her duffle
bag. “If you’re coming, I’m getting a shuttle and going after him.”

“Good. Tesia and Johan are ready to leave.”

“What?” She glared at him.

“They’re all coming along. Celeste declined. She’s going to
help Darius continue to rebuild Teran One.”

“Fine. Whatever. Let’s go.” She strode out the door of her
childhood home. As she got into the hoverboat to head for the shuttle bay at
Saladen, she didn’t look back. Not once.

* * * * *

“Um, Commander? We’ve got a shuttle approaching.” Dink gave
Tory the information in that tone that said they were in deep shit.

“Well?” he said impatiently. “Who is it?”

“It’s Jezar.” Dink gave Tory a steady glance.

Tory didn’t like that. “I told him to stay on Teran One and
help—” He stopped. “Alexandra is on that ship, isn’t she?”

“She is and from the coded message Jezar sent me with his
transmission, I’d say you’re in big trouble.” Dink shuddered. “I don’t want to
be anywhere near Commander Zeerah when she gets pissed off.”

Tory sighed. Everything had taken longer than he’d thought.
His ship had been impounded by Teran Five military geniuses who had wanted to
search for “items damaging to the Teran system”. Fucking assholes. Why they
thought they were the Teran system police, he had no idea. He had to go to
Teran Five and fight for his right to carry his cargo, which consisted of
nothing contraband…this time.

It took weeks to get the damn paperwork shoved through, but
being a Teran hero and saving the system had counted in his favor.

He’d only left Teran Five that morning and was winging his
way to Teran One. Not quick enough, apparently. He smiled. She was probing his
mind and he blocked her. Just to piss her off more.

Memories of their battle in the exercise room made his cock
hard. He hadn’t had his mate for a whole fucking month and he wasn’t going to
wait until she cooled off to have her now.

He glanced at Bud. “You’re in charge. I’m going to meet the
shuttle.”

On his way down, he tapped his foot. She pushed hard to get
into his head and he countered with sexual fantasies that infuriated her, since
he blocked her from his thoughts as he bombarded her with those erotic images.
Damn, he loved her.

The shuttle bay doors opened and there she was striding
across the bay. All he saw was her. Her hair in that inevitable braid, her
hazel eyes glittering gold, the familiar smattering of freckles and the sweet
curves he adored all hit him between the eyes and he just stared.

He almost missed the first swing and ducked just before she
knocked him on his ass. He tackled her, tossing her over his shoulder and
marching out of the shuttle bay.

She pummeled his back, her fists probably bruising him. Oh,
she was going to pay. And love it.

They reached the practice room and he locked the door. She
didn’t wait. She launched at him. She was a whirl, almost a pleasure to watch
as she blocked his answering blows and struck out at him.

He swept her legs out from under her, but she arched back
and sprang onto her hands, landing back on her feet. She flew at him, her feet
deadly and intent on his throat. He blocked, grabbed her ankle and tossed her.
She curled up, rolled and crouched on her feet, her chest heaving from the
exertion.

“I’m glad to see you too,
Saria,”
he said.

She attacked again. “Don’t call me that, you asshole,” she
said through gritted teeth.

He caught one arm and yanked her around, her arm trapped at
her back. “It would be more fun if you were naked.”

She shivered. “No.”

“Scared?”

She jerked against his hold. He let her go. God, he just
wanted to knock her on her back and plunge inside her, but he wanted her wet
and wanting when he did.

He shrugged. Well, if she wouldn’t get naked, he would. He
swept off his t-shirt and tossed it away. She stared at him as he unzipped his
pants and kicked them to a corner. His dick, hard and insistent, bobbed up and
her gaze dropped to study it, which made him harder.

Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him as she ripped her
uniform off. Naked, she was glorious. Her breasts, generous and high, already
showed signs of her willingness, their tips pointed. The curls that covered her
pussy were tempting him. He knew they were soft and he wanted his mouth there.

But first things first. She wanted to kick his ass. She
launched at him, her hands a blur, her feet swinging toward him. He countered
and, just as before, began his deviant form of foreplay.

The smack of his hand against her breast left a pink print
that made his cock ache. She attacked again, he slapped her other breast, the
sound vibrating through him. The mark on her neck, his mark, was long gone and
he wanted to replace it. She belonged to him.

This time she kicked out and caught his thigh, but he used
his forearm on her upper body while she was still off balance. He pounded her
into the floor and gripped her wrists. “I don’t like your hair bound when we
fuck,” he ground out. He yanked her hair free and she fought him, trying to
dislodge him.

“You left me. You didn’t tell me where you were. Nothing.”

“I know, dear heart,” he said softly. “I’m a bastard. I’m
still going to pound into you and make you scream.”

“If you didn’t want me—”

All his humor vanished. “Not want you?” Suddenly, he lifted
all the walls in his mind. Not want her? Never. He always wanted her, every
minute, every hour. She’d been there, in his mind, while he was gone and he
fought to come back to her, to be with her.

Her doubts were all there, spread out for him. Still? How
the hell could she doubt him? He went digging. She fought him, but he won.

There, at the core, in the ocean of fear and doubt that had
always been around her love for him was her greatest fear.

She was unlovable.

Her parents hadn’t loved her. Her brother hadn’t. Even her
sister held her at arm’s length. Her men had been loyal but it had been Tory’s
men who saved them, saved Teran One. Not hers.

Oh Jesus, dear heart. Don’t you know I’d die without you?
Don’t you know I lived five years of absolute hell without you?

With his mind entwined with hers, he kissed her, his mouth
possessing hers with every ounce of his strength. His hands stroked her body.
God, he’d missed her. He rolled one nipple in his fingers and she arched her
back. His release pounded to be free, but he held on.

He broke the kiss and moved his mouth over her neck, her
shoulders and down to take one of her nipples in his teeth. She gasped and
thrust her hands in his hair. He traveled lower, his tongue dipping into her
bellybutton and along the top of her thigh. He lifted his head. “Squeeze your
nipples,
Saria
.”

Her hands shook as she rolled her tips in her fingers. He
growled in satisfaction and dove for her pussy. He wanted her screaming,
dripping with cum and begging for him to fuck her. He just hoped he could hold
back long enough to get it.

His tongue slid over her nub and he tasted her cum in his
mouth. God, she was so perfect. Sweet, salty, perfect. He rotated the tip and
slipped a finger inside her slick channel. She thrust toward his tongue and he
added another finger, then another. He jammed them inside her as his tongue
flicked over her clit.

Then, she was there, her cum spilling over his fingers and
on his tongue. Her scream sent his senses reeling and she clenched his fingers
in an erotic vise that made him groan against her mound.

She belonged to him.

Alex shattered, her orgasm washing all the anger, all the
resentment, all the fear, away leaving only pleasure.

Tory lifted his head and towered over her. He gripped her
hair and his lips took possession of hers, brooking no resistance.

She slid her pussy over his cock, a cascade of electricity
shooting along her nerves. His mind, wide open, showed her how the taste of her
on his lips and the slick desire on his cock sent him into overdrive.

More from his mind slipped into hers. The vision of his hand
connecting with her ass until she came fascinated her. He broke the kiss and
stared at her.

“Do it!” she demanded.

He rolled away from her and yanked her into his lap. His
dick pressed into her belly, a small amount of his pre-cum sliding over her
skin. He spread her legs so her pussy and her ass were both exposed.

When his hand connected to her skin, her pussy throbbed,
heated by the friction. Again, he struck her ass, the flat of his hand hot. She
moaned and he flicked two fingers along her slit before he smacked her. Quick,
short spanks made her squirm and arch toward his wicked hand.

His mind and hers merged and she saw her pink skin as he saw
it. Erotic and sexy, he loved to mark her, brand her as his. Fantasies shot
through her mind and he responded to them with a growl.

He lifted her so she straddled him, face to face, and
impaled her on his dick. She screamed, her body sliding over him, deeper,
harder. He followed her fantasy and slapped her ass in time to her thrusts on
his body.

She opened her eyes. He watched her, devoured her with his
gaze. She bent down and rubbed her lips on his, need and desire filling every
space in her head.

Her legs wrapped around him like a vine and thrust him so
deep she felt his balls slap against her ass. She arched her body and he
gripped her hips, bruising her, little pinpricks of pain shooting along her
nerves.

Echoes between them, the feel of her pussy in his mind, the
fullness of his cock in hers, resonated, increasing their pleasure. On and on
they both convulsed in an eruption that seemed to have no end.

The explosion of his cum inside her set off fireworks in
her. There was no separation, no division, between them. Together, they merged,
joined.

Something changed in that moment. They both felt it. The
connection between them morphed into something else. Instead of a bridge, they
were joined, like two oceans with no barrier. It was as if the earthquake of
their joining had shattered any land between the oceans of their love.

Her body tightened even more and her orgasm sent every
muscle of her body into overdrive. Tory joined her there, surfing the wave of
pleasure.

It seemed like an eternity later, but the world righted
itself and she blinked. On Tory’s face she noted the same stunned expression
she was pretty sure was on hers.

“What just happened?”

Tory shook his head. “I don’t know.”

You’re no longer bridged. You’re melded.
Jezar’s
voice rumbled in her mind. Apparently, the Ardasian had felt the change. Well,
after all, he created the bridge. He would sense something powerful had
happened.

What does melded mean?
Tory asked him.

Millions of miles will never separate you,
Jezar
answered. Alex sensed envy.
Some say even death will never part the melded.
Only a handful of Ardasians experience it. You are the first humans I know of.

So, we never have to be apart again?
She liked that
idea. A lot.

Never
. And Jezar was gone.

Alex leaned down and kissed Tory. “This last month was
agony. I never want to be without you.”